‘Love Island USA’: Nicole Jacky and Kendall Washington Split After Reunion, Video Scandal

Love Island USA‘s Kendall Washington and Nicole Jacky have split after a contentious Season 6 reunion faceoff. 

Jacky broke the news of their breakup on Tuesday, sharing an Instagram Story update with her followers. “On August 18th, Kendall and I agreed our relationship was worth working on, and we were making plans for me to visit him in Dallas soon. However, on today, on August 20th, he called and ended things,” she wrote. “While I understand and respect his decision, it’s hard to process this one. I opened up to him in the villa, and still love and care for him now. I’m struggling mentally and all I ask for is privacy during this time.”

Washington also addressed the split on his Story. “I have decided to end things with Nicole,” he began. “It reached a point where it was not healthy for us to continue the relationship.”

“I still love and care for Nicole. I’ve never developed such strong feelings for a woman in my life,” he continued. “I have no regrets for the connection I made with her in the villa and it was real.” The Peacock star concluded by asking fans to “please stop with the negative comments/DMs” as Jacky “does not deserve any hate.” He signed off, “We’re taking this time to focus on our mental health. Thank you guys.”

Jacky and Washington were a mainstay couple of Season 6 of Love Island USA, exchanging “I love yous’ in the villa before finishing in fourth place during the season finale in July. After the couple exited the villa, Jacky’s online silence raised eyebrows, which she addressed eventually in August. “While Love Island was an amazing experience, things have not been easy since leaving the villa,” she wrote at the time. “There’s much more to share on what has happened since coming home, and for now, I’ve been taking time to process – these are real feelings and my real life.”

Washington was also dealing with personal issues after an NSFW video of him in a hotel room leaked online. During the Season 6 reunion, which was filmed on Aug. 14 and aired on Aug. 19, Jacky said it was Washington’s lack of honesty surrounding the video that bothered her. 

“Obviously, the video is not OK. Nobody deserves that. Everybody in this room can agree, it’s f-ked up,” she said. “However, I think if you say you love somebody, in the moment, when you’re telling me about something you need to be honest. Instead of saying it’s from years ago to someone you trusted – an ex-girlfriend – and then I find out two days later from JaNa [Craig] that it was in the hotel room before you go on the show to someone on a dating app is crazy.”

Jacky also accused Washington of not checking with her or defending her to fans. “This just puts me in such a f-ked position because I care about you too and I love you and people are questioning that,” she added. “Even though you let the world think we’re not together, we’re still together.”